It was a hot, sunny July day in 1972 when 15-year-old Julie Ann Hansen left for her brother’s baseball game from the quiet suburb of Naperville, Illinois.
She was an outgoing and cheerful girl who loved school and friends, but she never made it to the field. Her concerned family had called the police after she failed to make it back by nightfall, launching a desperate search that would lead only to heartbreak.
Julie’s body was discovered by officers the next day in a nearby field, where she had been sexually assaulted and stabbed 36 times.
The violent attack shook the close-knit community, where violence was rare. Investigators gathered evidence, including semen on her clothing, but with no DNA testing available to develop suspects, the case went cold faster than some who worked it.
Authorities had long suspected Loren William Molle, a 42-year-old man arrested for preying on other young girls.
His tactics were the same as in Julie’s murder, and he was convicted of another killing. But when DNA technology advanced in the 1990s, his sample no longer matched, leaving detectives with another cold case.
For the Hansen family, the ordeal has spanned decades, with Julie’s parents both dying without answers.
Her brothers and sisters kept her alive in memory, hoping that technology would one day tell them what had happened. In 2021, genetic genealogy turned the case on its head by identifying distant relatives of the killer through public databases.
Specialists at a dedicated laboratory reconstructed the disintegrating DNA profile from Julie’s clothing. They posted it on genealogy websites, getting matches to family trees that led them to one man.
A welder, Barry Lee Wempley, 76, who lived about a mile from the crime scene in 1972, became the suspect.
Wempley never appeared on the radar as someone with a violent background; he had mingled in daily life for decades.
Mike Ram said he spat on the street, and detectives snagged his DNA from a discarded coffee mug after matching him. He now faces charges of first-degree murder, held on $10 million bail as the case goes to trial.
The arrest was bittersweet for Julie’s brother and sister, who thanked investigators for their determination.
They expressed relief mixed with new bruises, reopening old wounds. Residents of Naperville, shaken by the disclosure, mused instead about how evil can lurk in plain sight for generations.
Wempley’s family was surprised, arguing that he appeared normal and kind. Investigators are also re-examining cold cases in hopes of finding any possible links to him, who may have committed other crimes before.
This discovery serves as a reminder that science is giving hope to cold case families everywhere.
Julie’s story is a cautionary one about threats that can lurk even in safe places, suggesting that you must be on your guard even in peaceful towns. Her legacy demands stronger DNA funding to solve more mysteries.
As Wempley’s family awaits justice, they take comfort in the knowledge that the truth finally came out.
Breakthroughs like genetic genealogy amplify whispers of the past into accusations. Victims like Julie remind us that no crime remains buried forever if there are determined detectives on the case.
In her honor, let’s do the lost justice by seeking the answers that can heal wounds too long festering.